Sikorsky may accelerate S-92
HEADLINES
NEWS IN BRIEF
• TURKISH UPGRADE
Turkey has selected a consor
tium of Elbit, Israel Aircraft
Industries and Singapore
Aerospace to upgrade 48
Northrop F-5s.
• KOREAN DOWNTURN
Asiana Airlines and Korean
Air are cutting over 20 inter
national passenger and cargo
services and reducing fre
quencies on a number of
domestic and international
routes. South Korea's wors
ening financial woes have
also resulted in Air New
Zealand and Qantas stopping
services to Seoul.
• EMBRAER ORDERS
Trans States Airlines has firm
orders for seven Embraer
RJ145 regional jets and
options on a further 18, an
.application by the airline for
slot exemptions at Chicago's
O'Hare Airport has revealed.
The St Louis-based carrier
wants to serve three Ap
palachian region cities from
Chicago. First delivery of the
aircraft would be in April.
Meanwhile, Portugalia is
increasing RJ145 orders
from four to six. It also holds
two options.
• MALEV SALE
Hungarian banks OTP and
MKB have stepped in to
acquire Alitalia's 30% stake in
Malev for $65 million, the
sale was a condition of Euro
pean Commission approval
of the Italian airlines recent
state-aid injection.
GRAHAM WARWICK/STRATFORD
SIKORSKY IS coming under increasing pressure from
potential customers to launch pro
duction of its private-venture S-92
medium helicopter. The current
plan calls for a production decision
after the first flight, scheduled for
September, but increasing interest
in the aircraft could lead to a deci
sion early in 1998, allowing deliv
eries to begin in 2001.
The S-92 programme was
launched in 1995 as a five-aircraft
development effort involving
Sikorsky and risk-sharing partners
Aero Industrial Development
(Taiwan), Embraer (Brazil), Gam-
esa (Spain)Jingdezhen Helicopter
Group (China) and Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries (Japan). As
sembly of the first two airframes at
Sikorsky is well advanced.
Although formal marketing has
not begun, an unsolicited offer of
the larger S-92 was presented as
part of Sikorsky's H-60-based
Maplehawk bid for Canada's
search-and-rescue (SAR) heli
copter contract. Portugal has a
similar requirement and has been
The S-92 ground-test vehicle
(foreground) will be ready in March
supplied with information on the
S-92, says programme vice-presi
dent Kenneth Kelly. Denmark has
already expressed a preference for
the S-92 to replace its Sikorsky
S-61 SAR helicopters, he says.
Sikorsky has provided S-92
briefings to the US Marine Corps
squadron, which operates the US
Presidential-transport S-6 Is; to
the US Coast Guard, which is
drawing up its long-range fleet
will take delivery of two 380-seat,
Pratt & Whitney PW4168A-pow-
ered A330-200s in the first quarter
of 2000. These will replace the
smaller 767s on services to the
Caribbean and the USA.
The airline says that the 767s -
which are leased by LIA's parent,
Unijet, from ILFC - will be
returned to the lessor when the
A330s are delivered. LIA says that
plan and to the US Air Force, for
possible special-forces use on long-
range combat-SAR missions.
Kelly says diat die US Army has
been briefed on S-92 im
provements which could be used to
upgrade its UH-60 Black Hawks.
These include more-powerful
General Electric CT7-8 turbo-
shafts, uprated transmissions and
all-composite rotor blades.
Together, these would give the
UH-60 a true 4,500kg hot-and-
high lift capability, he says.
The S-92 is being developed as a
commercial 19-passenger heli
copter, as well as a military utility-
transport, and there is increasing
interest in the aircraft from North
Sea offshore-support operators,
Kelly says. Together, these emerg
ing requirements are increasing
pressure on Sikorsky to accelerate a
production decision, he believes.
The first S-92, the ground-test
article, is scheduled to be delivered
to Sikorsky's West Palm Beach,
Florida, flight-test centre in
March. The following four aircraft
will be used for flight testing, and
commercial type-certification is
planned for mid-2000. Q
the A330s will be ordered directly
from Airbus.
Canada's Air Transat, based in
.Montreal, has concluded a deal with
ILFC for two Trent 772-powered
A330-200s to be taken on five-year
leases from February and April
1999. The aircraft, to be configured
with 362 seats, will supplement and
eventually replace the airline's
Lockheed L-101 Is. •
The country's currency has lost
Charter airlines sign up A330-20I
THREE LONG-haul charter airlines will introduce the
Airbus A330-200 in 1999 and
2000, including UK carriers Air-
tours International and Leisure
International Airways (LIA), and
Air Transat of Canada.
Airtours, which selected the
A3 30-200 some time ago to supple
ment its Boeing 767-300ERs on
long-haul charters (Flight Inter
national, 24 December, 1997-6
January, P8) has concluded a deal to
lease two Rolls-Royce Trent 772-
powered A330-200s from Inter
national Lease Finance (ILFC), for
delivery in April and June 1999.
The aircraft will be flown on routes
from the UK to Asia, Australia, the
Caribbean, Mexico and the USA.
LIA, which, like Airtours, uses
the 767 on its long-haul network,
A330-200s to use on long-haul services
Economic crisis delays Thailand F/A-18 purchase T
HAILAND PLANS TO
delay its purchase of eight
Boeing F/A-18C/Ds by three years
because of the country's economic
crisis. A team from the Royal Thai
Air Force plans to visit Boeing in
mid-January in a bid to re-negoti
ate the $392 million contract,
signed in 1996, which now calls for
delivery by 2000. Thailand wants
to delay delivery to 2003.
The country's currency has lost
45 % of its value against the US dol
lar since July 1997, effectively dou
bling the cost of the aircraft and
forcing the air force to examine
three options: cancelling the con
tract; selling the aircraft to a third
country; and delaying delivery.
Air force commander-in-chief
ACM Thananit Naimchin is
reported as saying that cancellation
would incur a termination penalty
of $250 million, while no potential
buyers for the aircraft have been
identified. This leaves delaying
delivery as the only option.
Thailand wants to delay delivery
so as to spread payments. The air
force has paid almost S7 5 million so
far, and is scheduled to pay $93 mil
lion in 1998, but is reportedly seek
ing to reduce that to $40 million.
Production of the aircraft has
begun and they are due for hand
over to the US Navy in 1999. Q
6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 January 1998